American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

170 CHAPTER 6|POLITICAL PARTIES

Each party organization also includes groups

designed to build support for or coordinate the

eff orts of particular individuals or politicians.

These include the Democratic and the Republican

Governors’ Associations, the Young Democrats,

the Young Republicans, and more specialized

groups such as the Republican Lawyers’ Orga-

nization or the Democratic Leadership Council

(DLC), an organization of moderate Democratic

politicians.^17

Many other groups, such as political action

committees (PACs) or 527 organizations,

labor unions, and other interest groups and

organizations, are loosely affi liated with one

of the major parties. For example, the organi-

zation MoveOn.org typically supports Democratic candidates. Similar organiza-

tions on the Republican side include the Club for Growth and many evangelical

groups. Though these groups often favor one party over the other, they are not part

of the party organization and do not always agree with the party’s positions or sup-

port its candidates; in fact, many have to operate independently of the parties and

their candidates in order to preserve their tax-exempt status. (For more details on

campaign fi nance see Chapters 7, Elections, and 8, Interest Groups.) While the Tea

Party organizations discussed at the beginning of this chapter share the label of

“party” with the Republican and Democratic parties, in function and appearance

they more closely resemble these other loosely affi liated organizations. For exam-

ple, they do not run candidates on their own; rather, they support candidates—

almost always Republicans—who are running for a major-party nomination.

As this description suggests, the party organization has a fl uid structure rather

than a rigid hierarchy.^18 Individuals and groups work with a party’s leaders and

candidates when they share the same goals, but unless they are paid party employ-

ees, they are under no obligation to do so (even paid party workers can quit rather

than work for a candidate or a cause they oppose).

PARTY BRAND NAMES

The Republican and Democratic Party organizations have well-established

brand names. Because the parties stand for diff erent things, both in terms of

their preferred government policies and in terms of their ideological leanings, the

party names themselves become a shorthand way of providing information to vot-

ers about the parties’ candidates.^19 Hearing the term Democrat or Republican calls

to mind ideas about what kinds of positions the members of each party support,

what kinds of candidates each party runs, and how these candidates are likely to

behave in offi ce. Citizens can use these brand names as a cue to decide whom to

vote for in an election. (See Chapter 7 for more information on voting cues.)

THE LIMITS OF THE PARTY ORGANIZATION

One critical thing to understand about the Democratic and Republican party orga-

nizations is that they are not hierarchies. No one person or group in charge deter-

mines what either organization does. Within the Republican National Committee

(RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC), the party organization’s issue

positions are set not by the committee chair but by DNC or RNC members from

political action committee
(PAC) An interest group or a divi-
sion of an interest group that can
raise money to contribute to cam-
paigns or to spend on ads in support
of candidates. The amount a PAC
can receive from each of its donors
and the amount it can spend on
federal electioneering are strictly
limited.

527 organization A tax-exempt
group formed primarily to infl uence
elections through voter mobiliza-
tion efforts and issue ads that do
not directly endorse or oppose a
candidate. Unlike political action
committees, they are not subject
to contribution limits and spending
caps.

brand names The use of party
names to evoke certain positions or
issues. For instance, “Adidas” might
immediately call to mind athletics
in the same way that “Democrat”
might remind you of environmental
policies or universal health care.

PARTY ORGANIZATIONS AT THE LOCAL
level coordinate support for the
party’s candidates, but they don’t
necessarily have to follow the lead
of the national party organization.